One person is confirmed dead following a house explosion and accompanying fire near Lake Zurich late Tuesday night that shook the Forest Lake subdivision and homes up to a mile away.
Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said an adult male was found among the wreckage of a home that exploded at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 23000 block of Overhill Drive in unincorporated Lake County.
The identity of the adult male found dead has not been released, Covelli said.
Covelli added in a news release the 77-year-old homeowner was unaccounted for during the blaze, but the body recovered in the fire has not yet been positively identified.
Multiple residents near the Overhill Drive home said their house shook and pictures fell off the walls from the force of the explosion, according to comments on the Lake & McHenry County Facebook site.
Brenda Gornick said on the Lake & McHenry County Facebook page late Tuesday that she lives near Hunter’s Creek and Chestnut Corners and her house shook from the blast.
“I thought it was a large firework near my house that had gone off,” she said.
Lake Zurich Fire Chief David Pilgard said at the scene that the fire department was dispatched to the home at about 8:30 p.m. in the Forest Lake subdivision for reports of an explosion and house fire.
Crews arrived on the scene within six minutes and found the single-story home heavily engulfed in flames, Pilgard said.
He said the explosion leveled the house and damaged two neighboring homes to the north and south.
Occupants of the home were unknown at the time and they were unaccounted for when the fire department arrived on scene, Pilgard said.
He said firefighters immediately began to douse the home with water to knock down the flames while checking on neighbors to ensure everyone was accounted for.
“The main concerns this evening were accounting for the residents of the house where the incident actually occurred,” Pilgard said.
“Our next priority was two things: the neighboring houses to make sure that those residents were accounted for, ensuring they did not start on fire this evening, along with establishing a water supply to extinguish the fire,” Pilgard added.
The Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) was immediately activated to bring additional water and manpower to the scene due to a lack of hydrants in the neighborhood.
Pilgard said the fire department upgraded the call to the third alarm level for additional water and manpower to the scene.
A total of 14 water trucks, 16 engines, 3 ladder trucks, 5 squads, 5 ambulances, 14 chiefs, and a rehabilitation canteen truck responded to the incident.
He said neighboring homes suffered damage due to the initial explosion and some damage from the accompanying fire.
ComEd and Nicor also responded to the scene Tuesday night, Pilgard said.
Nicor was requested to dig up a natural gas line to the house after a gas meter was damaged in the explosion and free-flowing natural gas saturated the area, he said.
Pilgard added that the fire department also requested assistance from a fire investigator task force which includes detectives from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Illinois State Fire Marshal, and additional fire departments in the area.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) also responded to the scene.
Pilgard said the fire is “not necessarily suspicious, but definitely warrants investigation to determine the cause of the explosion.”
The investigation includes speaking with neighbors to find out what happened.
Pilgard said some neighbors were outside of their homes when the incident occurred.
State and local authorities are continuing to investigate the scene.